Reincarnation : A Search For the Century
by Afleurdelis
Summary: Many years have passed since the last of Team Urameshi has been seen. Evidence comes into light that the reincarnations of the team are alive. With the assistance of Botan, KoEnma seeks to reunite the old team.
1. Prequel

_It has been a long time..._

_Perhaps too long. The last time the spirit detectives were seen was over a thousand years ago. Those years, thankfully, have been very peaceful and undisturbed by any terror for the spirit world or the human world. The demon world has remained in peace with the spirit world in this time, but now tension begins to grow as the details between Yusuke Urameshi and his friends between their dilemmas grow hazy within time, and even Lord KoEnma's memory fades as the days pass._

_Yusuke Urameshi..._

_How can words describe Yusuke Urameshi? His progress was near inconceivable after his resurrection. He surpassed many other spirit detectives and obstacles.. including the best of the best. But there would come a time when he would leave this world in death in which he could no longer come back. After outliving his wife, Keiko Yukimura, by several times her lifespan he fell into a depression as he was alone. Kazuma Kuwabara and Kurama, also known as Shuiichi Minamino, also parted through their peaceful deaths. The only enlightenment he received was out of character for him, possibly a memoir of advice from his friend Kurama, who was the smarter among his friends, or possibly Keiko. He looked greatly into the cycle of life and death. He wished to understand what had happened to the friends of his souls._

_He died before he ever found what he was looking for. He was still a half human, and his lifespan was not quite as long as a full demon. Hiei continued looking after his sister, Yukina, in secret. She never did find out who her brother was, Hiei didn't have the heart to tell her that it was him even for decades. He did develop a friendship with her after Kuwabara passed away. Among the last, Hiei died a short time after. The cause of his death is unknown._

_A thousand years later, Lord KoEnma sets on a new task to accomplish. He wants his spirit detective back, in dire need for the future of the spirit world. But, by no means of resurrection. He will search for the reincarnation of Yusuke and his friends at any cost._

_And the search begins._


	2. Kurama : The First Suspect

A night that seemed to last forever passed over the palace in the spirit world. Searching through over seven billion inhabitants in the human world was no simple task, even with the assistance of advanced technology wielded by reikai. Data on ever human in existence within the decade was looked over by both hand and computer for any possible signs of spirit awareness, physical resemblance to Yusuke, and personality similar to Yusuke. Hard work with sleepless hours were spent by most of the staff in the spirit world for weeks at a time. After a week with no success, KoEnma was starting to grow more impatient as there were no definite matches.

As dawn broke through the dark clouds that carpeted the sky, KoEnma devised a second plan. Even after the long years, at this time he summons Botan. The blue haired girl entered KoEnma's office, not a hair out of place from a thousand years in the passing. Her kimono was still the bright pink it had always been. She approached his desk and stared intently at him.

"You called, Lord KoEnma?" she asked. Her voice still sounded like her normal self, as if she never aged in the least bit. Her ruler stood up to look at her; and what a thousand years made a difference to him. His physical form held that of a teenager now, instead of his former and much younger form that appeared far more child-like. His hair was only a little longer, and he wore no hat upon his head anymore. His clothes appeared different and still reflected a Japanese style with Chinese influence. He had gotten so used to the manipulation of the form to his age which he begun that he could now hold it without reverting to his younger form unless willingly. He nodded after Botan's question, a same semi-serious tone about him. It appeared that he had only matured a little, yet he still matured.

"Yes, I did. Botan, I want you to go out on a different search." He paused, expecting as usual that he would explain to her exactly what he wanted her to do. He waited for her sign that she understood what he had said and was well prepared to carry out the task needed.

"Yes, I'm listening." KoEnma nodded his head before he spoke again.

"You and I are both aware of the effects to the mind, body, and spirit of a reincarnation.. that they resemble in certain ways the person they were in their past life. Also, should they encounter someone of great importance in their past life, they will have memories return to them." He gave a moments pause again, allowing Botan to nod to show that she was following his train of thought. "I have decided to locate the easiest of the old spirit detectives to locate.. and that would be Kurama. His intelligence far surpasses the average human, which will narrow down our search by far. As he has experienced living two lives, both as Youko Kurama and Shuiichi Minamino, I believe he will remember much more easily than the others may."

Botan gave her nod, yet she still looked uneasy. She had no idea how to track Kurama down, although she did agree with KoEnma's reasoning. "Yes, KoEnma, but.. where do I start?"

KoEnma looked from Botan down to his desk, where he picked up a folder, and then he handed it to Botan. She hesitated for a moment before she took the folder from him, and then opened it to look inside. The contents included five sets of photographs and several papers attached to each one. Each photograph was of a person, who did have an eerily resemblance to Kurama to either his demon or human life. She looked back at KoEnma.

"These are the five candidates for Kurama. Three of them live in Japan, one in Germany, and one in England. You will be transferred to their schools and enrolled into all of their classes. You will try to meet them one on one and become as close as you need to find out which one is Kurama. It is most definite that he is one of these, and there is the possibility that his human and demon forms have separate bodies. Do you understand?" Botan nodded after a moment.

"Good. Then off you go. Your first visit will be to England."

It was an early September morning as Botan stood outside the school she would be attending for the next few days, in search of her first candidate for Kurama. As she looked down at her uniform of a plaid skirt, knee high socks, a white blouse with the school emblem and a coat she remembered posing as a girl from Yusuke's school a long time ago. A warm feeling spread throughout her as it felt like old times again, when the rest of the gang was still alive. She glanced behind her, almost as if expecting Keiko or Yusuke to run up to her. Not much to her surprise, no one was there.

She took a deep breath and walked into the building, pushing the front door open. She looked up and down the halls, then stopped a moment to think. "Hmm... so where do I go..." she tapped her foot as she looked for any indication of where she should go. The only problem with this was that she was completely lost inside the school, weather or not she studied it last night before coming here as well as brushing up on as much English as she could.

Looking down the halls, there were a few other students walking by in either the left or the right. On either side there were two more rooms. She looked at both of them, lacking to take the panels next to the doors into notation and walked to the left room.

The door was open, and a woman sat at a desk in front of a computer. A few more rooms led down in a hall, and a few students were in the room speaking with the adults. Botan looked at the woman noticing that she had a large amount of wrinkles, yet her hair was blonde and curly, dark eyes hidden behind large glasses with pointed edges.

She took a step towards the woman in the desk, a bright and optimistic signature Botan smile on her face. "Hello, miss, I'm new to this school. I wanted to know if you could please help me get a copy of my class schedule."

The woman continued to stare at her computer for a few more moments, then pushed her glasses higher up on her nose and looked at Botan. "Then you want to the main office. This is the guidance office," the woman said in a very sweet sounding voice and pointing to the room on the right.

Botan nodded and grinned. "Okay then." Feeling extremely stupid for walking into the wrong room, she walked over to the main office. There was a younger looking woman with chubby cheeks and very short dark hair sitting at the computer in this room. She took a sip of coffee from a mug before continuing to type away madly at her computer, barely seeming to notice that there was someone in the office.

"Hello there. I'm new to this school and I would like to know if I can get a copy of my class schedule." The woman took another sip of her coffee and looked at Botan. She nodded while she put the mug down.

"Right away," she said in a low, frog like voice. A few commands and the woman printed up a schedule and handed it to Botan. "Enjoy your classes."

Botan smiled. "I will!" And with that, she walked out of the office.

The first place to go would be to her homeroom. After walking around for a good ten minutes, Botan eventually managed to find the room. She took a quick glance around at the other students in the room, remembering the photograph of the boy who could be Kurama's reincarnation.

In the back of the room sat a black haired boy with emerald green eyes who was reading a thick book of leather. There was a great resemblance in the face shape between this boy and Kurama, although this boy had shorter hair that slightly touched his ears. It was very possible that he could be Kurama, but she would need to double check before making too many assumptions. The name of the one she was looking for was Fox Brinley, which she forced into her mind.

With a grin she moved to the back of the room and sat in a desk next to the Kurama-look-a-like. "Hello, my name is Botan." She smiled at the boy as he looked at her. he didn't look too pleased to have his reading interrupted by someone, yet he didn't look angry at her either. He simply sighed and put a bookmark on the page he was at and turned to look at her.

"Hello, I am Fox. Are you new here?" he said. He had a definite British accent.

Botan's smile grew wider. 'Yes,' she thought, 'I found the candidate!' She nodded to answer the question. "Yes, I am."

Fox simply nodded. "Oh. Where in Japan did you move from?"

"Uh.." She was a bit taken aback that he knew she was from Japan immediately as it was usually hard for someone who was not oriental to tell the difference between the nationalities. regardless, she kept her smile. "I'm from around the Tokyo area."

Fox nodded. "Oh. Tokyo is nice."

"Have you been there?"

"No."

She was now in a slump. She had found Fox with no problem, but she wasn't able to make any conclusions yet. His personality didn't seem to quite match Kurama's, although he did seem to be intellectual. She needed something that might make him give further clues.

'Oh, what does Kurama like,' she thought to herself. 'Hmm.. he was always fond of plants.' Botan smiled. "So, what do you people do around here?" she asked him.

The boy shrugged. "Many different things. It depends on the person."

'Not very specific,' Botan thought to herself. "Oh? What do you like to do then?"

Fox paused a moment before answering. "I am quite fond of chess, and I enjoy playing football."

Botan nodded, the look on her face seeming interested. Kurama didn't strike her as a person who was fond of sports, although she could picture him liking the game chess.

"Are you any good at chess?"

Fox nodded. "I am for the most part. What do you like to do?"

Botan thought for a moment. 'Hmm... if I tell him what I really enjoy doing, it won't help me at all.. but what if I said I liked the things that Kurama likes?' She smiled. "I like gardening. Anything in nature, actually."

"I don't like the woods very much. I'd rather be indoors."

Well, that settled it for the most part. Fox was not Kurama, as one of the traits that was most well known about him to Botan was that he loved nature and adored natural beauty. He matched up well other than that fact, but it didn't seem likely. If he was Kurama, he should have been able to start to recognize her.

"So, what have you gotten for me Botan?"

Botan was back in her kimono, again standing in from of KoEnma's desk. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Fox Brinley is not Kurama," Botan stated.

"Are you positive?" KoEnma asked.

She nodded her head once as she spoke. "Yes. Very sure."

KoEnma nodded. "Hmm... she showed high signs of spirit awareness and from what else I know he has been taking martial arts for four years now and could be promising.. perhaps we may want to keep track of him. Did you obtain his contacts?"

Botan nodded. "Yes, I have his... e-mail address." She didn't seem to know what it was in the least, and it was unlikely that she had one either. Either way she still stated it as she always presented information.

"Good. Tomorrow you go to Germany."


	3. Kurama : To Germany

Botan sighed as she looked high up at the tall building for the next school she was going to. It looked a slightly broken down and rather old with the crumbling bricks that lost their vibrant red color and the windows looked like they were becoming too fragile to be safe to touch. She fingered the piece of paper that was in the pocket of the pair of pants she had been wearing. All the information she needed to find this person was on it. She pulled it out to look at it one more time to assure herself.

"Wesley Sterling" she said out loud. She coughed as if trying to fix her voice, her accent a strong Japanese. She was just glad that she could speak German well enough, which she found easier than English even though the English tongue is a Germanic language. She brushed her white and blue striped shirt before walking into the building, and pushed the creaking door open. She winced as she did this, and ran forward into the building for a few steps as she gazed around. An eerily silence hung over the area, and Botan hesitated to move forward as she looked around, surveying the area in front of her.

"Hey" A voice called from behind her. Botan jumped and turned around sharply. A brown haired boy carrying a book with chocolate eyes was staring at her. He tilted his head as he chuckled. "You must be new; you look so scared."

Botan nodded and muttered under her breath"Yes, yes." She sighed as she regained her breath and looked up at the brown haired boy. "So, what is your name"

"Alvin" he said quietly. Botan blinked as she looked at him. Upon regaining her senses, she noticed that there was high feel for spirit energy in the room, which she may have overlooked. The name 'Wesley Sterling' ran through her head as she mused upon the thought that they possibly located the wrong name. A blonde haired boy with blue eyes walked over to the two of them and smiled.

"Oh, hello Alvin. Are you chatting up the new girl" he asked. Botan studied the new member to their conversation closely. As he got closer, she concluded that he was the one with the high level of spirit energy.

Alvin flushed pink and shook his head. "Oh, no, I was doing no such thing. I was just welcoming her to our school." The blonde haired boy nodded.

"Oh, I see." He turned to look at Botan and extended a his hand . "Hello, my name is Wesley" he said. Botan smiled, both to his kindness and the luck she had.

'Yes,' she thought to herself, 'Wesley Sterling is found.' She shook his hand and added"My name is Botan."

"Oh" Alvin started. "Why don't you come hang out with us downtown after school" Botan nodded.

"That would be lovely" she said. Before she had any time to say anything else, Wesley grabbed a book out of Alvin's hands and dashed behind Botan. Alvin did not look surprised as Wesley swung the book around to hit a rather large insect, smashing it into the wall. Alvin recollected his book from Wesley and sneered.

"Third time this week" he said as he looked at Wesley. Botan raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"You mean you can see those" she asked. Wesley and Alvin stared at her.

Alvin shrugged and Wesley took a step toward her to question her. "We know we can, but we weren't aware that anyone else could." Botan nodded.

"Well, I can. And what do you mean by third time this week? Do you mean there have been many of them here lately" she asked. Alvin nodded slowly.

"Within the past month, anyway" Alvin replied. "We saw one try to suck the blood out of a girl a while ago, so we view that as a potential threat."

"And then there was that monster last week who attacked the old woman" Wesley added. Botan's eyes grew wider. Demons running around in Germany was the last thing reikai needed at the moment. "Good thing it was only a small little bloodsucker."

Botan sighed. Although she had gotten her hopes up with Wesley who had already begun to fight some demons, if he was Kurama, he should have recognized her by now or had some memories coming back to him, which he appeared to not have. Then again, having spirit detectives in Germany might not be so bad.

"Well you what" Botan started"how about we continue this after school? I think I might have something that may be of interest to you."

Alvin and Wesley exchanged glances, and then turned back to Botan. They then both nodded. "Alright" Alvin said. "Front hall right after the last bell rings."

A few hours later, Botan sat on top of the school holding open a compact mirror. Inside the small mirror was not a reflection of Botan, but of KoEnma. KoEnma seemed to be in deep thought as Botan listened thoroughly.

"Yes, perhaps." KoEnma said. "We could use reinforcements, reincarnation or no." Botan nodded.

"Yes, yes, and they have already encountered demons, so it will be nothing new to them" she said. "They say they have found insects swarming around." KoEnma mused on the thought.

"Insects you say? Demonic insects from makai? Then this is even worse than I thought. Insects are and always have been the first to come." Botan nodded.

"As I've witnessed before. Bring them to reikai then, sir" KoEnma nodded.

"Yes. I'll assign another ferry girl to them when they arrive." Botan grinned.

"Alright. I'll get them now." She closed the compact mirror and looked down. Standing outside were Wesley and Alvin, looking around for Botan. She materialized her oar quickly and hopped onto it, and dove off of the building and halted right before them. The two of them jumped, looking taken aback and stared at her wide eyed.

"What the" Alvin muttered as he looked at it. Wesley surveyed the oar.

"How are you floating like that" he demanded. Botan shook her head.

"No time for that now. Lord KoEnma requires you both come to the spirit world." Alvin raised an eyebrow, looking from her, to her oar, and then back to her. He then looked at the oar again, and tempted to push it down and see if he couldn't figure out how it were really floating. The oar shook a little, making Botan who was sitting on it shake as well and caused Wesley, who at the moment Botan was not focusing on, to stare a little lower than her face as her whole body shook. As Botan turned to face them both after firmly gripping her oar, Wesley's eyes darted up with well enough time that Botan didn't notice where he had been staring and saved him of a swing from her oar.

"Where exactly is spirit world" Wesley asked. Botan sighed.

"I cannot give you a very long explanation at the moment, I need to fly to Japan shortly after. But here is the basic jest of it. All of the dead people from this world have their spirits taken to reikai, the spirit world. I am a ferry girl, I carry the spirits to spirit world on this oar, like a grim reaper. Another world in existence is called the demon world, which is where those pesky insects have been coming from. The head of spirit world, KoEnma, is in need of what we call spirit detectives. You two are the most cut out for the job in Germany as far as we can tell, and it seems Germany has been a target recently." After her explaination, Alvin and Wesley eyed eachother. Neither of them were quite sure they believed her, yet they didn't seem to think she had any reason to lie quite yet.

"So? What will it be" she asked. Wesley seemed to be in deeper consideration as Alvin shrugged, deciding that he would go along with whatever Wesley agreed to do.

"We need to have more information on what a "spirit detective" is" was his answer. Botan nodded.

"Spirit detectives protect the human world from interference from demons and other troubles that may cause harm to the world, the people in it, or mess up the order of it" she said. "At the moment, we do not have many and are in desperate need of them. I believe those demonic insects you saw earlier would be good enough proof." Wesley paused to muse upon her information, and then nodded.

"We'll do it, then" he said.

Botan smiled, and grabbed Alvin's wrist because he was closer and plopped him onto the end of the oar as she shouted "Great" with happiness. In a crazed sudden haste of surprise, he struggled to grab the oar and gain his balance before falling off. He failed, falling backwards off of it and landing flat on his back. Wesley calmly sat behind Botan as Alvin scrambled off of the ground and sat down behind Wesley just as calmly. "Hold on tight"

Within a few minutes, Alvin, Wesley, and Botan all stood outside the large building in the spirit world where she had taken Yusuke before. She couldn't help but remember the moment he first came there, and soon after commented about how the whole world as ruled by a toddler which greatly upset KoEnma. She suppressed a light hearted laugh upon the memory, but couldn't help smiling even more brightly. She turned to them to inform them of mroe information.

"In a few minutes you are going to meet KoEnma. He is far older than he appears to be, as do I and most of the inhabitants here. You will have another ferry girl conduct your training as a spirit detective while I attend other duties. I do not know who it is, so I cannot tell you anything else." They both nodded, and Botan opened the big door to lead them down a long, large hallway. Within a few minutes of silence, they reached KoEnma's office.

KoEnma was standing up, looking out a window as the three of them approached. He turned his head as he looked at them and smiled. Alvin and Wesley were very taken with the fact that he looked like a teenager with a binkie in his mouth, yet didn't say anything about it and found it best to stay silent. "Ah, good to see you two so soon. My name is Lord KoEnma, ruler of the spirit world. I have arranged for Ami to train you as spirit detectives. I wish you the best of luck. If you have any urgent questions, you may ask them now." There was a brief pause before KoEnma spoke again. "Good, then. Off you go."

A girl dressed in a light green kimono and a blue obi stepped into the room. She had dark green eyes and short wavy green hair. She grinned as she saw Wesley and Alvin, and waved at the two of them. "Hi there. I'm Ami, your trainer."

KoEnma turned to Botan as he sighed. "There are three more left, Botan. One is a Chinese boy and the other two Japanese. Tomorrow you will visit China and Japan and hopefully this investigation for Kurama will be closed."

Botan nodded. "Yes, KoEnma."


	4. Kurama : BT of China

Walking around China, Botan crunched her nose in surprise of the smell. Unfortunately, the next candidate for Kurama resided in a not-so-nice part of China in the Hong Kong area. She started to breathe less and less as she walked through the streets, making her way toward the school where she would attend.

Luckily enough, she would be attending an English speaking school, as she did not have much time to brush up on her Chinese and had recently used some English. Learning languages had begun to be a talent for her now as she had been needing to speak more than one language recently, however she did prefer her native language to speaking other ones. Opening the door, she looked around and saw a few seats residing in front of what appeared to be an office. A boy sat outside, reading a book silently to himself. He definitely looked Chinese with a warm tone to his tan skin and a nice round feel to his face with an average build for an Asian boy.

"Okay.. I'm looking for Jun Gong…" she thought to herself as she approached the office. Before entering the office, she gave a last look at the boy who was the spitting image of the boy in the picture she was looking for. Within this glance she noticed his eyes darting across the pages like a wildfire.

"Umm… excuse me" she added cheerfully as she turned to him. He looked up at her and gave her a warm smile as a greeting.

"Hello, do you need something" he added and then blinked. He was polite, yet she could tell he was not very interested in talking and wished to resume reading. Botan nodded and smiled. He suddenly looked interested in her as he noticed more features about her, particularly her eyes and hair.

"Yes, actually, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind telling me what to do here. See, Iim new and I was going to head to the office to get a class schedule, but I do not know where any of the classes are." The boy nodded and smiled, although it was more a triumphant smile than a greeting one.

"Very well. Get your schedule and I'll help you." Botan grinned, adding in a 'thanks' as she went to obtain her schedule, and stepped outside of the office shortly after. Politely, he lead her to her first class and explained the layout of the school, then turned to Botan with a curious look in his eye with a hint of a smirk in his expression.

"Reikai up to something" he asked before she entered. Botan froze, then turned around to face him.

"You know of reikai" she asked quietly, convinced that he was definitely Jun Gong, yet the picture proved that before. The boy nodded.

"If you know where to look, you can find anything. I do not know very much, but I have a basic idea of the monarchy system and of the more famous spirit detectives. What are you doing here"

"Looking for someone, actually. The name Minamino doesn't sound familiar to you at all, does it" she asked. Jun Gong shook his head no. He definitely should have remembered something should he have been Kurama, and the mention of his name would have been a major trigger.

"Nope, sorry. Would you like some help looking" he asked. Botan shook her head.

"No, I need to do this on my own." The boy paused before he nodded.

"I see. Good luck, then." Botan turned around, then started to walk off. Having proved Jun Gong not to be Kurama, he wasn't much more use. Although, his knowledge of Reikai may become dangerous or helpful in the future which caused her to pause as she walked.

"Wait… how did you know I was from reikai" Botan asked as she turned around to face him. He shrugged.

"Your hair and eyes are not natural colors for a human, and I figured you might be an apparition perhaps. Umm… 'Ferry Girl' I think the term is. Looking for someone who died recently to collect their soul, I would have guessed." Botan grinned.

"Something along those lines." About to give a friendly goodbye, a girl with badly dyed green hair ran down the hallway and grabbed Jun Gong by the collar desperately.

"We've been hacked" she cried out, although her voice was quiet as to not disturb anyone else. Perhaps though, her voice was naturally calm and quiet.

"What" Gong answered, looking very dumbfounded and shocked. "How"

"Someone from England got into our database and started to delete some of our progress. Ting thinks it was a member from the student council who wanted us to not use the school computers anymore, but Jacki things that it was the biotechnology company from America that wanted us to back down from the field."

Gong groaned. "It could easily be either.. Come on let's go. Are you coming" he asked Botan, and she shrugged.

"Why not"

After climbing up a fight of stairs, she followed Gong and the girl into a room full of computers where a group of people were huddled around the last computer. Gong took the main seat and the girl walked over to the side.

"See, our files have been interrupted. You know that no one can get in without the retinal scan, the password, and decoding the correct information to delete what they want. And you know what they deleted" the girl begun adding in. Glancing over their shoulders, Botan saw a list of folders with a strange program and a grid with a line emerging that stayed in a flat slope.

"The energy rating.. No… it isn't working anymore…" Gong replied. The girl nodded.

"We looked into the program. The main component of I which transfers the energy into signals is gone, and that means we can't add the machines into the equation anymore. Plus, we have evidence that it was copied from our computer to another, which means that they have the information." Gong nodded, and grinned.

"That means we can track them back with a few history checks, and then steal the information back" Gong added but then another boy cut him off.

"And delete what they have" he asked. Gong shook his head.

"No, alter it so that they don't know we did anything after we copy it to our computer." Botan watched in amazement as Gong worked the computer, and had a slight idea what he was doing.

"Hey" the boy cut in, and pointed to Botan. "What is she doing here"

"She's a ferry girl," Gong replied. They all stared at her in amazement.

"An honest to god ferry girl" the girl from before asked as she looked at Botan with amazement. Gong nodded.

"Look at her blue hair. You can tell that isn't dye, it her natural hair color." The girl examined a lock of Botan's hair, making her feel a bit silly for a moment and then she pulled back.

"Wow, it is" she exclaimed, highly amused by Botan's hair. "So, she can use the 'ki', right" Gong nodded in reply.

"Yeah, I imagine she can."

"What an honor.. actual reikai personel here at BT" another member, male, chimed in.

"Huh" Botan asked, confused by the use of 'BT'.

"Biotechnology... though the full name is Biotechnology Unit Spirit Energy, we just say BT." The other girl who spoke before looked frightened and approached Botan.

"Oh no, does that mean someone died" she asked. "Is it going to be one of us" Botan shook her head and giggled. She had forgotten how much humans feared death since Yusuke was around.

"Oh, dear, no. None of you have a death in the near future, I assure you that" Botan replied, then paused. "Although, you aren't really supposed to know that. It's classified information." Gong turned to Botan.

"Well, everything is now set in order. See, we were trying to find a way to use average human ki to invent electronic devices that could help harness the energy and use it for various things. Soon after finding about reikai, we learned little of this so called 'spirit energy' and wanted to use it, so I gathered a group together and we now try to work with it for good intentions. Currently, a healing device which we are close to completing."

Botan nodded and smiled. "Well, good luck with that." The last girl stepped forward.

"If you ever want our assistance, feel free to contact us." The girl grinned and held out what resembled a business card. Botan nodded.

"I will, don't worry. But I must be going soon, I need to hurry to Japan. Good-bye, everyone" she said cheerfully and waved.


	5. Kurama : Located in Japan

"Finally," Botan thought to herself happily. "Only two candidates left for Kurama."

Grinning to herself was she walked around in Japan in another school girl uniform, she was quite pleased. This one had a long green skirt and a white blouse with a green collar. And this time, finding the candidate should be very easy. Apparently, this one resembled Kurama more than the others with a few minor differences.

"Shino Moritoku," she muttered quietly to herself. "Should be easy enough."

Used to the floor plan of schools now, she no longer needed assistance finding her homeroom class for the day and walked over to the room as she entered it quietly, which wasn't always her style. Looking in the back, she saw a boy with black hair and a vivid dark blue tint to it sitting in the back. His hair, eerily enough, was the same style as Shuiichi's had been. He sat in a green uniform, and seemed to be studying for a test. She sat down in in a seat next to the one in front of him. He glanced upwards at her and spoke to her.

"Oh, you must be new," he said as he looked at Botan. Botan turned and nodded. She noticed that his eyes were exactly the same color green.

"Yes, I am," she said cheerfully. The boy who was definitely Shino, as Botan could tell from the picture she saw before, took a stare at Botan, and then rubbed his temple as he looked distressed, almost as if straining to remember something.

"Your name is Botan, correct?" he asked her. She nodded and grinned.

"Yeah, how did you know?" There was more to the reason she grinned, as it seemed that Shino might be catching on to a possibly memory of her. Shino stared back at her for a moment, then shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." He looked away and was very still for several long moments. He then raised an eyebrow at her as he now walked out of his seat and over to hers.

"Botan of the River Sticks," he added as he looked down at her and offered her a hand for a handshake. She had done it, she had found Kurama. Or rather, Shino Moritoku. Botan stood up and smiled back at him, taking his hand in the handshake.

"Kurama, the fox demon," she added. Taking a few seconds to adjust, he nodded slowly after. "I bet you are confused, no?"

"Perhaps. It is not a familiar feeling to remember a past life. It's coming back in pieces... have you found any of the others in their reincarnations?" Kurama asked. Botan shook her head.

"No. Yusuke was too hard to locate, and Hiei and Kuwabara have not been touched upon yet," Botan replied. Kurama nodded as he mused on the thought, and then looked back at Botan.

"So, I was the easiest one to locate. I see. But why have you chosen to relocate us? Doesn't that go against regulation?" Kurama asked. Botan nodded slowly.

"Yes, usually. We have never made many connections to reincarnations, although with recent trouble, KoEnma had no choice," Botan replied.

"We are no longer the reiki tantei, Botan," Kurama replied. "Although, I do remember much more of the missions, I do not see why to relocate us since the majority of us would be different I would imagine. Surprisingly, comparing my current life to my past one, I am not very different although I do have my differences."

"KoEnma believes you can recall your skills faster. Hopefully, as you did when transferring from Youko Kurama to the human body of Shuiichi Minamino. You did say that it took a while to regain your abilities, yet you remembered how to use them," Botan replied cheerfully. "And, unfortunately, time is something we cannot spend. KoEnma really needs the reiki tantei back.. a new threat emerges." Kurama nodded.

"And it is likely that they will remember in a similar fashion," Kurama replied. Botan nodded.

"Yes, exactly. Although, now that you have been found, we need to start the next search immediately." Botan grabbed Kurama's wrist and pulled him outside to the front of the school, clumsily enough that he was unable to protest and did not wish to hurt her in the process.

"We're off to reikai" she chanted as she materialized her oar and hopped onto it, flating now a few inches above the ground. Kurama quietly sat down behind her and held onto the oar. A quick kick off, and Botan and Kurama were up in the air. Looking down at the city, Kurama decided against looking below as he stayed awkwardly silent with a displeased expression.

"Who is next?" Kurama asked after a while.

"I don't know, actually. We'll have to see KoEnma. Also, we have two new reiki tantei in training."

"KoEnma needs the help this badly?" Kurama asked, now worried as to what could be such a big problem.

"Yes. He wouldn't tell me for what though. I Imagine you and I will find out soon... although, I don't know for sure."

"Let us hope KoEnma knows how to handle the situation." 


	6. Break : Visiting Reikai

Shino, now known as Kurama, leaned against the wall outside to KoEnma's office with Botan as they waited to speak with him. For the past few minutes they had been still and waiting calmly in anticipation.

"So, I suppose I could fill you in a little more for the time being," Botan said. "Although we do not normally do this, the amount of backup support we need to help KoEnma out is massive, and we cannot train new people quickly enough to be a success. We have found candidates and are still trying this method with two boys from Germany and may recruit some more people incase this plan does not follow through, but KoEnma feels that if you can lock into your memories you will regain your old skills much more quickly than someone who had never tried to focus them before and had to grasp the concepts."

Shino nodded. "I understand. How are they doing so far?"

Botan shook her head. "I'm sorry, I do not know. We will most likely hear from them and their progress soon."

Just as Botan glanced off to the side a door in the hallway flew off of the wall and dully hit the other edge of the hall as it fell down, and smoke clouded throughout the room accompanied by a scream as Alvin found himself flying out of the room and scrambling to get back inside. Botan and Shino rushed over to look unable to deny the interest the room presented.

"What is going on in here?" Botan asked as she peered around.

Their trainer Ami stood in the middle of the room and she grinned back to Botan. "Oh, it is really nothing by sharpening their skills to see what their strengths are."

Botan raised an eyebrow as she entered the room, followed by Shino who was casually looking around with interest as to what had been going on. Wesley stood up shaking some dusty gray rubble out of his blonde hair, although clearly it was not all going to come out at he left it.

Ami nodded to him, then looked back at Botan. "Yes.. Wesley has been working with force fields while Alvin seems to be more in tune with power up techniques."

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Shino asked.

"It means that if he can focus his spirit energy in a certain point it increases the strength of the action, such as a jump or punch or kick. He seems to prefer bouncing off of force fields and knocking everything else out, however," Ami replied scoffing. "Well, they are promising at the very least."

Alvin laughed nervously as he crept back up, dusting himself off as well and grinned. "Well try to get better sooner, don't you worry."

Botan shook her head and laughed. "Well, okay then. Good luck you guys. By the way, this is Shino Moritoku, the reincarnation of Kurama, one of the old reiki tantei. I'm sorry but I don't think you two have much else to do, so we will drop by later tomorrow and you may continue you introductions then."

Ami smiled and waved to them then turned back to Alvin and Wesley, who each waved in turn as well. Botan had already waved and left, and with a quick wave as well Shino had followed. Me mused on the thought of working with new people in future missions while the old people he had been used to interacting with as team mates were now different, too. Before he knew it, he was already in KoEnma's office standing next to Botan and in front of KoEnma's desk.

"Ah, good to see you again Kurama. I trust you have some form of your memories returned?" KoEnma asked.

Shino nodded and smiled politely. "Yes, I believe so. I do not know if I will recall everything, however. You seem to be taking on a new form as well, KoEnma."

KoEnma nodded. "Yes, over the years we have all changed a bit. But this is a serious case. Several demons have escaped to the demon world undetected for many years since the reiki tantei job has been absent of an employer and seen as unneeded for many years as we seemed to have reached a peaceful time. However, many of them have grown stronger and now pose as serious threats to the human race. Your jobs will be to annihilate these demons, as well as their leader. We are working to accumulate more information on him, but in the meantime we have hints to the location of Kuwabara's reincarnation. He has been hard to locate, but his qualities seem to be less universal than Yusuke's and as he was a best friend to Yusuke we believe he will assist us in finding Yusuke more easily.

Botan and Shino nodded in understanding, but then Botan spoke up. "So what shall he do in the meantime?"

KoEnma paused. "Keep your eyes open, as all of these people live in Japan this time so it is possible that you may run into him. However, we will be looking up more information on the candidates and present it to you tomorrow at 8 o'clock your time."

Botan turned to Shino. "Oh! Also look out for the feeling that something familiar is around. It may be strong or weak, depending on how close you are but we believe you can sense out these people. That happened when I found you, so you should be familiar with it."

Shino nodded and grinned. "Of course, I will keep an eye out until then."


	7. Break : That Feeling

As Shino walked through the more dirty parts of the city he felt a strong presence of spirit energy and a sense of familiarity in the air.

'This is what Botan said it would be like if I sensed someone close by that I knew well from a past life...' he thought to himself. 'I had this feeling when I saw Botan, but not this strong.'

Peering around the alleys, he walked down the sidewalk as he looked for the source of the feeling. The feeling of the familiar presence grew faintly stronger as he continued to walk down the road and look through the alleys. Coming near the block of the corner near a bunch of shabby apartment houses he came by one alley where the feeling grew intense. He shivered as he glanced down, and started to walk through the crumbling and shabby area. Normally, he would choose to avoid this type of area.

Sitting on a stoop was a boy who looked slightly older than he had been with a faint resemblance to himself, and not someone he knew before. Who it was, he has still unsure although the boy definitely looked familiar. So familiar, almost as if he had been some sort of brother, yet the two had never met.

His eyes scanned the boy who was sitting in front of him, studying him in return. His hair was black with a golden hue to it in the sunlight, and his eyes looked golden brown as well. The new boy's hair had been shorter than he kept his, reaching the back of his neck and hanging straight into his eyes and covering his ears messily for very straight hair that seemed to naturally keep itself neat. His face looked very, very familiar, especially his eyes. It took a few moments more before he recognized who it had been, or at least he thought he did.

'How is this possible?' Shino thought to himself. 'This.. isn't happening... it can't be him.'

The older boy smirked as he stood up and held his hand out to Shino's to shake. "Long time no see, Shuiichi."

Shino froze. There was no mistaking who it was, he had been able to recognize him easily. It still troubled him how this could be possible, yet he did not understand everything about reincarnation. "Youko.."

The boy shook his head and brushed his hair out of his face, the smirk still on his face. "Actually, I go by Shugo now."

Shino nodded politely. "Ah. Nice name, Shugo." An awkward pause hit the two of them. While Shugo seemed to have reality sink in easily Shino seemed to be more uneasy with the situation. In the past he had been able to communicate with his other half, Youko, while they possessed the same body. But now, they were fully two separate people which Shino couldn't come to terms with easily. Surely, someone would have an explanation, and he wanted to hear it. Caught up in his thinking, as he returned to reality Shugo was looking at him curiously with a raised eyebrow and was now standing.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Shino said, rubbing his temple with his index and middle fingers. "I was just caught up in thought."

Shugo snickered, apparently finding this situation highly amusing. "What is it?"

Shino sighed, shaking his head. "It is nothing. Although, I would like to know something else.. did you remember anything of your past life before?"

Shugo nodded. "Yeah.. I remember. I was about fourteen and I started having flashbacks."

Shino glanced at him curiously, highly interested in an explanation as to what may have caused it. "Oh really? Do you know what caused it?"

Shugo nodded, pausing awkwardly as he did so. "Yeah, I know why, but it is really none of your business."

Shino frowned. "Well, if it is that personal then I do not need to know the exact event.. do you know why it may have caused you to remember though?"

"Of course I do. I did the exact same thing before and drifted off into a de ja vu where I started to remember everything. The circumstances were different, but the event the same," Shugo replied casually. He may have been more laid back than his counterpart, but certianly not less intelligent or conclusive.

"Were you stealing anything?" Shino asked calmly.

Shugo smirked. "Well.. no, not exactly, but I was taking something if you catch my drift."

Shino frowned immediately as he understood. "Yes, I do know what you mean." He paused as he considered what to say next. "Are you that active at this age?"

"I get around sometimes," he replied casually, although his voice became colder as he gave Shino a suspicious look. "Not with just anyone though. I do have standards."

Shino shook his head and chuckled. "Just be careful with that is all I can say and avoid getting into something you cannot handle."

Shugo grinned. "I know what I am doing." He paused, brushing some hair out of his eyes again and smirked at Shino. "But what about you, eh? You don't honestly think you can be asexual all of your life. Not even all of the koorime do that."

Shino shook his head. "I am not looking at the moment. Perhaps in the future."

The brown haired boy nodded, then sat back down on the stoop as he side glanced at Shino. "So, how did you find out?"

"I ran into Botan," Shino replied as he sat down next to Shugo. "Apparently something has been going wrong in Reikai recently and they need quick desperate help. All of the old reiki tantei have died, and by searching for the reincarnations they hope that once memories of our past lives come back we will be able to gain our skills back more quickly than a completely new tantei would."

Shugo nodded. "Seems like a logical attempt. Although with billions of people, some will be hard to find. So the more we get the better chances we have of find them." Shino nodded as Shugo continued. "Ah.. I see. I suppose it wouldn't kill me to help."

Shino smiled. "Yes, that would be good." He glanced up at the sky, watching the white clouds pass overhead as the sun was a small way the mid-sky. "I'm going back to Reikai tonight. Botan will take us there and meet us in the park. Come by after diner sometime around seven, would you?"

Shugo nodded and grinned. "Yeah, sure."


	8. Kuwabara : Coffee Girl

Sitting upon her oar not more than an hour after dusk, Botan surveyed the two reincarnations. "I see, so now you are.. fully separate souls. I suppose it does make sense... after all, one soul may be reincarnated into several different beings, so the split between you would be more likely than most."

Shino nodded, pausing nervously. "What are the chances that.. we have a few different reincarnations for one of the reiki tantei?" he asked moments later, glancing up a few inches at the hovering Botan.

She shook her head. "I do not know, but I hope it is unlikely. I will ask KoEnma, though." She turned to look at Shugo. "Bummed about being human now?"

Shugo shook his head with a wide grin. "No, not at all. This time I didn't soften up, either," he added smugly as he grinned at Shino.

Shino frowned at that cocky smile Shugo now had. "I wouldn't say I am all that soft."

Botan frowned. "Settle down, Kurama, and.. Kurama. I'll just have to stick with your new names. Shino and Shugo.. even those name sound similar." She frowned, clenching her fists. "Fate does this just to frustrate me, I swear."

Shugo smirked. "Yes, because fate loves to make your life hell."

Botan pouted, ignoring the sarcasm in Shugo's voice. "I know... well, anyway, I am here to show you two the candidates for Kuwabara. There is Ringo, Hana, and Kaemon." She handed Shino a folder full of the pictures and information of them.

"Also.. if Ringo turns out to be Kuwabara's reincarnation, he will not be able to work with the rest of the team. Ringo is only ten years old."

Shugo raised an eyebrow. "A ten year old reiki tantei? Not a good idea."

Botan nodded. "Right, he would be too young. And Shugo.. you did not have much interaction with Kuwabara, so I am sorry but I do not thing you can help at the present time. Kuwabara would not recognize you."

Shugo shrugged. "Yes, I'm crushed," she said sarcastically and waved as he walked off. "You know where to find me."

Shino sighed, then glanced back at Botan. "Alright, so how shall we do this?"

Botan paused as she mused upon a split-up plan. "Well, I could visit Ringo, and you can visit Hana. Then we can both visit Kaemon after if neither of them are Kuwabara."

Shino nodded as Botan handed him a file of Hana. "Just out of curiosity, how did you narrow down the candidates?"

Botan grinned. "Oh, well, we looked at their spirit energy levels and moral readings... a unique combination that matched Kuwabara's, as well as any other additional characteristics."

"I see," Shino replied, glancing at the picture and paper to accompany it. "So, where do I go?"

Botan glanced at the file and pointed to the bottom. "See, there. She works at a coffee shop, so you can try to meet her there. It says she was a lunch break tomorrow, so you can see her there. As for Ringo, I signed up to work at the daycare center as a student doing community service."

Shino nodded. "And for Kaemon?"

Botan paused. "Well, I will be going to his school the day after tomorrow to see if it is him. As for now, simply prepare for tomorrow. Anything to bring out the Kuwabara." Shino nodded.

The next day arrived soon, and by noon Shino had walked to the coffee shop. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shugo, who approached him. With a grin, he waved. "So, how is finding Kuwabara going so far?"

Shino shook his head. "Nothing yet. I am supposed to inspect Hana while Botan inspects Ringo, and tomorrow if today we do not find him Botan will try at his school."

Shugo chuckled. "Hana? You mean.. Kuwabara was reincarnated into a girl?"

Shino shook his head. "I don't know, but it looks like a possibility."

Shugo grinned. "I'll come for a watch. This will be amusing."

Shino shook his head. "I don't think that is such a good idea." As the two entered the coffee shop they looked around. There were a few people inside, but not enough of a crowd and no line. With a table free, they sat down at it and glanced around for the girl.

"I do not see the problem. So, where is she?" Shugo asked.

Shino shook his head calmly. "I do not know yet." A girl with wavy orange hair pulled back that appeared similar to Kuwabara's hair walked around at the back counter and hung up an apron with a name-tag "Hana" on it. She yawned as she then walked away out from behind the counter and sat down a few tables away from Shino and Shugo.

Shugo stretched out, relaxing back as he folded his arms behind his head. "Well, I guess we found her. She must have just started break."

Shino nodded. "Yes.. but I am thinking of a way to talk to her to find out if she is Kuwabara." Shino paused as he thought, yet before he could do much more the atmosphere of the coffee shop seemed to change. A thick, purple haze drifted into the room as the entire room seemed to chill and become icy. It seemed that no one really noticed the difference, yet Shino and Shugo were too busy staring at the purple fog to care.

Suddenly, everyone in the room fainted except for Shugo, Shino and Hana. Chairs were thrown around and tables as te occupants collapsed, causing a real mess of the place. Shino pulled on Shugo's collar and dragged him under the table. Before Shugo could ask for an explanation, Shino glanced at him sharply and made a "shhh" noise. After a second passed and Shino listened for any noise, he turned to Shugo quickly. "Whoever is controlling the purple fog may come in here to investigate what is going on, or rather who hadn't been affected by it for whatever reason."

Shugo nodded, and the two kept a look out. Hana now stepped out into the room center of the empty cafe, glancing around. She frowned, crossing her arms as she turned to look at the doors. "Hey! Who is out there! Come show yourself, coward!"

No reply. 'She certainly seems to be acting like Kuwabra,' Shino thought to himself, yet he continued to observe. Suddenly, three demons rouse from the purple fog and into the room. They had been green, appearing more reptilian than humanoid although with definite thin hairs on their skin. The eyes were very large, gold and catlike. They had been piercing in their gaze, as if to strike terror in anything that came near.

Hana was taken aback, gasping as she stepped backward. She frowned at them, taking some sort of stance with her legs apart and her arms crossed and angled. Whether or not it was a real stance or an act, it was unsure to either Shugo or Shino. "What do you want?" she called out.

The center demon snorted, then spoke sending spit everywhere as he did so. "Dispose of the spirit users." The three demons advanced on her.

"The what?" she called out, raising an eyebrow, glancing at the corner where Shino and Shugo had lie. She couldn't see them through the table, yet she must have been able to sense them.

"Dispose of the spirit users," the demon repeated.

The girl frowned, dropping her stance. "I heard you the first time! Stupid good for nothing monster."

Before she could say anything else, the demon leapt at her. With a yell, she ducked and dove under, holding her hands over her head as the demon missed her. Hana looked up, catching sight of Shino and Shugo. "Would it kill you to help!" she shouted over at them, getting back to her feet and falling backwards from shock as the other two leapt at her.

Shino and Shugo got out from under the table, each of them heading for a demon as Hana scrambled to her feet. Shino hit one in the back to push it towards the ground and then hit it with his knee forcing it back up, finishing it with a punch. It must have been a D class demon, as it was knocked out very easily.

Shugo simply punched it in the face and kicked it over incase the punch had not enough of an effect. It coughed up some blood, also of the D class and easy to defeat.

Hana squealed a little as the last one came after her and she pushed her wrist forward to hit the demon in the nose. She looked horrified as she heard a cracking sound, purple blood dripping over wrist as she shook it from pain.

But, she hadn't managed to knock it out quite yet, only make it dizzy and most likely broke the nose. She frowned, then took a step forward as she punched it in the face with her other hand. Now she had knocked it out, noticing that she had gotten blood on both of her hands with a look of disgust as she muttered "Eww" under her breath.

Now that the sudden interruption had occurred, Shino and Shugo were out in the open and had time to see if the candidate for Kuwabara was him or not. She turned to look at them as they approached. "What was that?"

"No idea," Shugo replied, shrugging.

"It was like some kind of demon," Shino added as he chose his words carefully. The girl just turned to survey the area and the damage.

She sighed heavily. "My boss is going to kill me," she muttered as she started picking up tables. "Second time this month."

Shugo raised an eyebrow. "This has happened before?"

"Yeah... why didn't either of you faint?" she asked.

"The same reason you didn't," Shugo replied. She didn't reply, just continued picking up tables as the fog continued to disperse. It was plain to see she wasn't sure why she didn't faint either.

After picking up another table, she glanced at them. "Well, if you are going to just stand there the least you could do is help."

"I don't feel like helping," Shugo muttered to Shino and turned to leave.

Shino shook his head and grabbed Shugo's sleeve to stop him. "We still need to be certain that she isn't Kuwabara. We need a reason to stay longer." The two walked over to different tables and started to pick them up, then Shino turned to Hana. "So what happened last time?"

"Oh... well I was in the bathroom right before and when I came back there was the strange haze in the room, everyone was out cold and some demon thing was about to eat some middle aged man, so I kicked it from behind before it saw me," she replied. She paused after, frowning. "Yeah... broke a good pair of heels... anyway, so it didn't really work that well so I punched it in the face as it turned around... then things were kind of fine except I had to clean up the place... like now."

"Do you get into fights often?" Shugo asked. It was obvious he could have cared less, but he was doing what was asked.

Hana gave him a strange look before she answered. "Sort of... I'm not very good at controlling my temper sometimes and I can be over-confident. But, I'm trying. I was thinking of signing up for a type of martial arts once I can pay for it, which is why my mom said I couldn't."

"Do you get good grades in school?" Shugo asked, knowing Kuwabara was not the brightest crayon in the box even if he could manage.

She shrugged. "Oh, usually. I'm used to being right so it adds to my stubborn nature."

Shino frowned. That definitely wasn't an attribute Kuwabara had been used to, so it was unlikely she could be him.

Hana glanced at him. "Is something wrong?"

Shino merely shook his head as a reply. "No. Everything is just fine, I just hate cleaning up." He continued to clean as he thought to himself. 'If she isn't him, then the search continues... I just hope it isn't Ringo.'


End file.
